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^
The College News
z.eu
VOL. XXVII, No. 9
Mass Meeting
Held to Discuss
Week-end Leaves
BRYN MAWR and WAYNE, PA., WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1940 copyright, Trutt�u of price 10 CENTS
Permission for Overnight
Visits Suggested by
Self-Gov
Bryn
News Board Smashes Ghost Writer Racket;
Trial Paper Receives Below Average Mark
Goodhart Auditorium, Wednes-
day, November 20.�A mass meet-
ing of the Self-Government Asso-
ciation conducted by Virginia Nich-
ols was held to discuss the question
of weekend permissions. A resolu-
tion was passed to the effect that
the Self-Government Board would
draw up a paragraph of interpre-
tation of the word "chaperon" and
apply it to the rules concerning
permission as they now stand, and
that next year the present rules
would be altered to read that per-
mission must be gotten for any un-
chaperoned visits. The halls will
vote separately concerning this res-
olution.
The discussion concerned the
Self-government board's suggestion
that the new rule read: A student
must have special permission for
any over .night absence from col-
lege unless she is staying with a
member on her family. Virginia
Nichols stressed the fact that the
main purpose of this rule would be
to make the person think twice
about the suitability of the ar-
rangements, and in the event that
CnnMnum nn Fsee Four
In the interests of standards, the
News conducted an experiment; it
was a little expensive, but it was
worth it.
We commissioned a member of
Mr. Weiss' first year philosophy
class, who was writing a paper on
A Comparison of Parmenides and
Heracleitus, to act as the control
element, stripped her of her biblio-
graphy and mailed it off to Student
Services, Ltd., with an order for a
paper on the same subject. The
victim with a paper due spent a
week quailing at the prospect of
competition from Phd.'s, L. L. D.'s
and doctors of Arts of Tearing off
Themes.
Other agents of ours were, mean-
while, carrying on a secretive cor-
respondence with Services Ltd.
First we wrote and explained that
it was "very important that this
paper receive a good mark." Their
reply jacked the price with "We
should like to point out that the
charge for a paper requiring re-
search material is higher than that
for a paper consisting of mere
opinion." A post-script added,
"You may be assured that such a
paper would receive the very best
criticisms, an excellent mark."
After the necessary confirma-
tions by telegram, the manuscript
arrived special delivery and post-
marked two-thirty A. M. The.re-
cipient, receiving the obvious envel-
ope at the breakfast table, suffered
acute embarrasment. The paper
was accompanied by the following
note: "May I urge you to read the
piece over and to acquaint yourself
with the ideas expressed therein.
If possible look at some of the
books mentioned. Will you kindly
Continued on Page Four
Swing Your Partner
On Saturday evening, from
eight until eleven, there will
be a Square Dance in the
Gym, for the benefit of the
Bryn Mawr Summer Camp.
Haverford has been invited
and Allen Stokes will call the
figures. Music will be sup-
plied by Chris Sanderson, his
fiddle, and his upcountry or-
chestra. Tickets are 35 cents.
Drive Distributions
To Date Announced
The Activities Drive has collected
and distributed the money brought
in by the first payday. Out of the
4951 dollars pledged this means
that 1279 dollars has been received
and has been paid out in the fol-
lowing way: to the Bryn Mawr
League, 545 dollars of which 400
dollars went to the Hudson Shore
Labor School, 50 dollars to the In-
dustrial Group, 25 dollars to the
Haverford Community Center, 10
dollars to the Better Baby Clinic,
and 60 dollars for running ex-
penses. To the Players' Club went
400 dollars which takes care of
this organization's yearly budget.
The Peace Council received 250
dollars as well as 170 dollars for
the ambulance fund. Newly estab-
lished as part of the Drive this
year is the Refugee Scholarship
fund which received from the first
Continued on Page Five
B. M. Students, Although Knitting Arduously.
Seem More Intellectual Than in Last War
By Ann Denny, '43
World War I made Bryn Mawr
roll its own hockey fields, plant
potatoes, set its thermostats at 65
degrees, and tighten its belts
around Tuesday's meatless meals.
The classes of 1914-18 made chol-
era bands, nightshirts and bed
jackets, and rolled bandages en-
thusiastically, while 1940-41 reel
out quantities of "sea boots" and
particularly lean toward scarfs of
fabulous length.
The Red Cross drive; "packages
for France" drive; there was even
an ambulance drive, and more than
that, two hospital beds bore the
name of Bryn Mawr College over
the sea. "Packages for France"
.unlike "Bundles for Britain," ask-
ed especially for a personal letter
to each soldier, so that many a
French "poilu" had a Bryn Mawr
"marraine." A few professors had
leave of absence for military serv-
ice. The girls also worried about
the possibility of brothers and other
male interests going off, for mili-
tary training. First aid courses
boasted large enrollment, and the
importance of women, a much "more
radical thought in those days, was
stressed. Poor Big May Day had
a similar death straggle, and 1916
as well as 1940 graduated without
seeing it.
Later on, of course, as the United
States entered the war, the squeez-
ing became even tighter. An emer-
gency fee was added to the tuition
and board�50 dollars a head. Sug-
gestions were made for planting
potatoes on college ground (a men-
tion of onions was not so well met)
and after long discussion a farm in
West Chester was given over to
Bryn Mawr vegetables. A group
of students took up the shovel and
the hoe and spent many a long
weekend in the potato patch. Coal
ran low; light and heat had to be
conserved; and a great deal of
hard work occupied students who
had to keep up their studies and be
patriotic at the same time.
On the intellectual side we have
progressed a little from the atti-
tude of World �".'."-� -irLess inter-
ested in the ideals of democracy,
those other Bryn Mawr girls read
exciting letters telling of escape
from Berlin, of horrors, and more
horrors, with passionate pleas for
aid to the Belgians.
But the amazing thing about it
all is this: even in those times,
more unsettled than the present,
Bryn Mawr had more college acti-
vities than we have now�that is,
more plays and more sports. It is
a question whether they believed,
as they professed, that their duty
lay at college or whether we ex-
ceed them in contact with the out-
side world. One thing is sure: in
spite of our fifty-six inch scarfs
and striped socks, wc tend more to-
wards speculation and intellectual
progress while 1914 had many more
energetic undertakings. ,
Circus Atmosphere
And Carnival Gaiety
Promised for Dance
The annual college Dance held
on Saturday, December 7, follow-
ing the Bryn Mawr - Haverford
production of Our Town, will be a
gala event. The Gym will be dec-
orated to represent a circus tent,
with a band-wagon for the orches-
tra. A canopy overhead, and pos-
ters by Bert Graves,
Tom Garside and his Ambassa-
dors, who played at the June dance,
will again furnish the rhythm. The
dance will be a program affair,
with girls stag; and the gentlemen
will meet their appointed partners
under signs, according to halls, as
they did last spring.
The dance will begin at eleven
and end at two. Tickets are one
dollar and seventy-five cents stag
and two dollars a couple, and can
be acquired in every hall.
Rehearsals Promise
Excellent 'Our Town'
Rapid Actors' Shuttle Needed
Between B. M. and Haver-
ford for Rehearsing Cast
A tiptop performance of Our
Town seems imminent at Haverford
and Bryn Mawr on December 6
and 7, at least as far as rehearsals
are going.
The cast dashes busily back and
forth between colleges in buses,
cars, and anything that happens to
be handy. Since there are no
props, no props need to be carted
around, making things a lot
simpler. But a tremendous cast is
no help at all.
The pantomiming is a lot of fun
and will probably be quite effective
when it is polished up. Sound ef-
fects are creeping in, often at the
right time, believe it or not. The
acting is going well, despite the
fact that lines still are fringed
around the edges, but that happens
to any play, so we don't have to
worry.
Bryn Mawr and Haverford
should look forward to a really
good performance of Thornton
Wilder's play, produced on Broad-
way only two seasons ago. Get
your handkerchiefs ready, and pre-
pare your face for a smile or two
or three.
Free Tea Draws Mob
To War Benefit Sale
Calendar
Thursday, Nov. 28 �
Thanksgiving Vacation.
Saturday, Nov. 30.�
B. M. Second Hockey Team
vs. Haverford First Foot-
ball Team, Hockey Field,
2.30 p. m.
Tea, Common Room, 3.45-
6.00 p. m.
Square Dance, Gym., 8-11
p. m.
Sunday, Dec. 1.:�
College Tea, Common
Room, 4-6 p. m.
Monday, Dec. 2.�
History of Science Lecture.
Mr. Michels, Dalton, 7.30
p. m.
Tuesday, Dec. 3.�
Current Events, Miss Reid,
Common Room, 7.30 p. m.
Thursday, Dec. 5.�
French Lecture, M. De
Lanux, Deanery, 4.00 p. m.
Friday, Dec. 6.�
Spanish Club Tea, Common
Room, 4.00 p. m.
Our Town, Haverford.
Saturday, Dec. 7.�'
Tea Dance, Rhoads.
Our Town, Goodhart, 8.30
p. m, -
College Dance, Gym, 11-2
p. m.
Monday, Dec. 9.�
History of Science Lecture,
Mr. Weiss, Dalton, 7.30
p. m.
Tuesday, Dec. 10. �
Current Events, Miss Reid,
Common Room, 7.80 p. m. �
Effective posters, the unflagging
efforts of the three sponsors, Doro-
thy Counselman, Peggy Shortlidge
and Virginia Sherwood, and the in-
ducement of free tea with every
two dollar purchase, accounted for
the great success of the Bundles
for Britain and British War Re-
lief sale given in the Deanery on
Monday and Tuesday. The sale,
which included Christmas cards,
pins, compacts and playing cards,
grossed over 300 dollars. Added
attractions were an exhibit of some
of the goods knitted by the stu-
dents and chances for Queen Vic-
toria's handkerchief and a plaid
suit from Bonwit Teller.
The suit was won by Peggy
Continued on Tag* Two
Enthusiastic
Audience Hear
Traubel Recital
Soprano Renders Variety
Of Compositions With
Skill and Feeling
By Portia Miller, '43
� On- Tuesday evening, November
26, the second event on the Enter-
tainment Series was an outstand-
ing recital by Helen Traubel, prima
donna soprano of the Metropolitan
Opera Association. It is hardly
possible to praise Miss Traubel
highly enough, for it is a rare
privilege to hear a voice of such
extraordinary power and reson-
ance, combining technical skill with
a deep feeling for dramatic ex-
pression.
Miss Traubel's mastery of the
soprano range was such that her
high notes were equally as warm
and clear as her low notes, and
every tone was full of beauty.
Only an artist of unique ability
could render an intellectual and
emotional interpretation of such di-
verse composers in Miss Traubel's
inspiring fashion. The soprano
sang difficult excerpts from Wag-
ner with the same ease that she
displayed in simple Folk-Songs
such as Siving Low, Sweet Chariot.
The first selections on the pro-
gram were three songs by Beet-
hoven. The pomp of Gotten Macht
und Versehung, effected by the
massive tones, was contrasted by
the more gentle and quiet charac-
ter of Wonne der Wehmuth and
Continued on Page Six
Art News
Mr. J. C. Sloan, associate
professor of History of Art,
has been appointed a member
of the board of the College
Art Association.
Dr. Edgar Wind will lec-
ture at the Haverford Union,
December 5, at 8.30 p. m. on
A New Interpretation of
Raphael'8 School of Athens.
Dr. Wind gave a lecture at
Haverford last year on
Michelangelo's Sistine Ceil-
ing.
M. Meigs Reviews Fall Issue of Lantern:
Declares Charge of Decadence Obsolete
Especially contributed by
Mitt Mary Meigs
Since the fall issue of the Lan-
tern emerged from its chrysalis
last week, one or two literati con-
nected wilh it have asked anxiously
whether I thought it was decadent
If it is any comfort to them, I
might say that the Lantern stop-
ped being decadent at least a year
ago; that one can no longer dis-
miss it with a single satisfying ad-
jective. What we used to mean by
calling it decadent, I hardly know;
most of the stories in 1938 and
1939 had a pessimistic ethical out-
look, some of the poetry was sinis-
ter in Its obscurity. At any rate,
the Lantern was one-sided; it had
a morbid bias towards gloom.
Olivia Kahn in her editorial
seems to feel that the Lantern is
still one-sided. Humorous writing
has been neglected, she says. As I
grope about in the mists of mem-
ory, I can remember reviewing the
last Lantern (Commencement,
1940), so I have a good basis for
odious comparisons. There was a
humorous story in it by Isota Tuck-
er and a story written in a'humor-
ous style by Florence Newman.
Both had elements of tragedy in
them; they were, in short, true to
life. Hence, they disproved to
some extent Miss Kahn's rigid
classification of Lantern material
in "the serious mode." What great
novelist ever wrote entirely in the
serious mode? If the Lantern was
one-sided it was not merely because
it failed .to balance its serious bill
of fare with humorous entrees, but
because its editors thought in cate-
gorical terms of serious vs. hu-
morous.
If Miss Kahn really means, let's
have a few satires, she ought to
come right out and say so, and then
she would be better justified in ty-
ing humor up in a neat separate
package. Instead she implies that
the reader must in every case
either smile or weep, forgetting
that in a single case, he can smile
and weep alternately, or weep
tnrough his laughter or smile
through his tears. But I .chiefly
disagree with Miss Kahn's state-
ment that it is "harder to force the
reader to smile than to weep." The
reader who smiles at the New
Yorker is not going to be tricked
into weeping orer "portions of
True Story or Cotmopolitan;" if

^
The College News
z.eu
VOL. XXVII, No. 9
Mass Meeting
Held to Discuss
Week-end Leaves
BRYN MAWR and WAYNE, PA., WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1940 copyright, Trutt�u of price 10 CENTS
Permission for Overnight
Visits Suggested by
Self-Gov
Bryn
News Board Smashes Ghost Writer Racket;
Trial Paper Receives Below Average Mark
Goodhart Auditorium, Wednes-
day, November 20.�A mass meet-
ing of the Self-Government Asso-
ciation conducted by Virginia Nich-
ols was held to discuss the question
of weekend permissions. A resolu-
tion was passed to the effect that
the Self-Government Board would
draw up a paragraph of interpre-
tation of the word "chaperon" and
apply it to the rules concerning
permission as they now stand, and
that next year the present rules
would be altered to read that per-
mission must be gotten for any un-
chaperoned visits. The halls will
vote separately concerning this res-
olution.
The discussion concerned the
Self-government board's suggestion
that the new rule read: A student
must have special permission for
any over .night absence from col-
lege unless she is staying with a
member on her family. Virginia
Nichols stressed the fact that the
main purpose of this rule would be
to make the person think twice
about the suitability of the ar-
rangements, and in the event that
CnnMnum nn Fsee Four
In the interests of standards, the
News conducted an experiment; it
was a little expensive, but it was
worth it.
We commissioned a member of
Mr. Weiss' first year philosophy
class, who was writing a paper on
A Comparison of Parmenides and
Heracleitus, to act as the control
element, stripped her of her biblio-
graphy and mailed it off to Student
Services, Ltd., with an order for a
paper on the same subject. The
victim with a paper due spent a
week quailing at the prospect of
competition from Phd.'s, L. L. D.'s
and doctors of Arts of Tearing off
Themes.
Other agents of ours were, mean-
while, carrying on a secretive cor-
respondence with Services Ltd.
First we wrote and explained that
it was "very important that this
paper receive a good mark." Their
reply jacked the price with "We
should like to point out that the
charge for a paper requiring re-
search material is higher than that
for a paper consisting of mere
opinion." A post-script added,
"You may be assured that such a
paper would receive the very best
criticisms, an excellent mark."
After the necessary confirma-
tions by telegram, the manuscript
arrived special delivery and post-
marked two-thirty A. M. The.re-
cipient, receiving the obvious envel-
ope at the breakfast table, suffered
acute embarrasment. The paper
was accompanied by the following
note: "May I urge you to read the
piece over and to acquaint yourself
with the ideas expressed therein.
If possible look at some of the
books mentioned. Will you kindly
Continued on Page Four
Swing Your Partner
On Saturday evening, from
eight until eleven, there will
be a Square Dance in the
Gym, for the benefit of the
Bryn Mawr Summer Camp.
Haverford has been invited
and Allen Stokes will call the
figures. Music will be sup-
plied by Chris Sanderson, his
fiddle, and his upcountry or-
chestra. Tickets are 35 cents.
Drive Distributions
To Date Announced
The Activities Drive has collected
and distributed the money brought
in by the first payday. Out of the
4951 dollars pledged this means
that 1279 dollars has been received
and has been paid out in the fol-
lowing way: to the Bryn Mawr
League, 545 dollars of which 400
dollars went to the Hudson Shore
Labor School, 50 dollars to the In-
dustrial Group, 25 dollars to the
Haverford Community Center, 10
dollars to the Better Baby Clinic,
and 60 dollars for running ex-
penses. To the Players' Club went
400 dollars which takes care of
this organization's yearly budget.
The Peace Council received 250
dollars as well as 170 dollars for
the ambulance fund. Newly estab-
lished as part of the Drive this
year is the Refugee Scholarship
fund which received from the first
Continued on Page Five
B. M. Students, Although Knitting Arduously.
Seem More Intellectual Than in Last War
By Ann Denny, '43
World War I made Bryn Mawr
roll its own hockey fields, plant
potatoes, set its thermostats at 65
degrees, and tighten its belts
around Tuesday's meatless meals.
The classes of 1914-18 made chol-
era bands, nightshirts and bed
jackets, and rolled bandages en-
thusiastically, while 1940-41 reel
out quantities of "sea boots" and
particularly lean toward scarfs of
fabulous length.
The Red Cross drive; "packages
for France" drive; there was even
an ambulance drive, and more than
that, two hospital beds bore the
name of Bryn Mawr College over
the sea. "Packages for France"
.unlike "Bundles for Britain," ask-
ed especially for a personal letter
to each soldier, so that many a
French "poilu" had a Bryn Mawr
"marraine." A few professors had
leave of absence for military serv-
ice. The girls also worried about
the possibility of brothers and other
male interests going off, for mili-
tary training. First aid courses
boasted large enrollment, and the
importance of women, a much "more
radical thought in those days, was
stressed. Poor Big May Day had
a similar death straggle, and 1916
as well as 1940 graduated without
seeing it.
Later on, of course, as the United
States entered the war, the squeez-
ing became even tighter. An emer-
gency fee was added to the tuition
and board�50 dollars a head. Sug-
gestions were made for planting
potatoes on college ground (a men-
tion of onions was not so well met)
and after long discussion a farm in
West Chester was given over to
Bryn Mawr vegetables. A group
of students took up the shovel and
the hoe and spent many a long
weekend in the potato patch. Coal
ran low; light and heat had to be
conserved; and a great deal of
hard work occupied students who
had to keep up their studies and be
patriotic at the same time.
On the intellectual side we have
progressed a little from the atti-
tude of World �".'."-� -irLess inter-
ested in the ideals of democracy,
those other Bryn Mawr girls read
exciting letters telling of escape
from Berlin, of horrors, and more
horrors, with passionate pleas for
aid to the Belgians.
But the amazing thing about it
all is this: even in those times,
more unsettled than the present,
Bryn Mawr had more college acti-
vities than we have now�that is,
more plays and more sports. It is
a question whether they believed,
as they professed, that their duty
lay at college or whether we ex-
ceed them in contact with the out-
side world. One thing is sure: in
spite of our fifty-six inch scarfs
and striped socks, wc tend more to-
wards speculation and intellectual
progress while 1914 had many more
energetic undertakings. ,
Circus Atmosphere
And Carnival Gaiety
Promised for Dance
The annual college Dance held
on Saturday, December 7, follow-
ing the Bryn Mawr - Haverford
production of Our Town, will be a
gala event. The Gym will be dec-
orated to represent a circus tent,
with a band-wagon for the orches-
tra. A canopy overhead, and pos-
ters by Bert Graves,
Tom Garside and his Ambassa-
dors, who played at the June dance,
will again furnish the rhythm. The
dance will be a program affair,
with girls stag; and the gentlemen
will meet their appointed partners
under signs, according to halls, as
they did last spring.
The dance will begin at eleven
and end at two. Tickets are one
dollar and seventy-five cents stag
and two dollars a couple, and can
be acquired in every hall.
Rehearsals Promise
Excellent 'Our Town'
Rapid Actors' Shuttle Needed
Between B. M. and Haver-
ford for Rehearsing Cast
A tiptop performance of Our
Town seems imminent at Haverford
and Bryn Mawr on December 6
and 7, at least as far as rehearsals
are going.
The cast dashes busily back and
forth between colleges in buses,
cars, and anything that happens to
be handy. Since there are no
props, no props need to be carted
around, making things a lot
simpler. But a tremendous cast is
no help at all.
The pantomiming is a lot of fun
and will probably be quite effective
when it is polished up. Sound ef-
fects are creeping in, often at the
right time, believe it or not. The
acting is going well, despite the
fact that lines still are fringed
around the edges, but that happens
to any play, so we don't have to
worry.
Bryn Mawr and Haverford
should look forward to a really
good performance of Thornton
Wilder's play, produced on Broad-
way only two seasons ago. Get
your handkerchiefs ready, and pre-
pare your face for a smile or two
or three.
Free Tea Draws Mob
To War Benefit Sale
Calendar
Thursday, Nov. 28 �
Thanksgiving Vacation.
Saturday, Nov. 30.�
B. M. Second Hockey Team
vs. Haverford First Foot-
ball Team, Hockey Field,
2.30 p. m.
Tea, Common Room, 3.45-
6.00 p. m.
Square Dance, Gym., 8-11
p. m.
Sunday, Dec. 1.:�
College Tea, Common
Room, 4-6 p. m.
Monday, Dec. 2.�
History of Science Lecture.
Mr. Michels, Dalton, 7.30
p. m.
Tuesday, Dec. 3.�
Current Events, Miss Reid,
Common Room, 7.30 p. m.
Thursday, Dec. 5.�
French Lecture, M. De
Lanux, Deanery, 4.00 p. m.
Friday, Dec. 6.�
Spanish Club Tea, Common
Room, 4.00 p. m.
Our Town, Haverford.
Saturday, Dec. 7.�'
Tea Dance, Rhoads.
Our Town, Goodhart, 8.30
p. m, -
College Dance, Gym, 11-2
p. m.
Monday, Dec. 9.�
History of Science Lecture,
Mr. Weiss, Dalton, 7.30
p. m.
Tuesday, Dec. 10. �
Current Events, Miss Reid,
Common Room, 7.80 p. m. �
Effective posters, the unflagging
efforts of the three sponsors, Doro-
thy Counselman, Peggy Shortlidge
and Virginia Sherwood, and the in-
ducement of free tea with every
two dollar purchase, accounted for
the great success of the Bundles
for Britain and British War Re-
lief sale given in the Deanery on
Monday and Tuesday. The sale,
which included Christmas cards,
pins, compacts and playing cards,
grossed over 300 dollars. Added
attractions were an exhibit of some
of the goods knitted by the stu-
dents and chances for Queen Vic-
toria's handkerchief and a plaid
suit from Bonwit Teller.
The suit was won by Peggy
Continued on Tag* Two
Enthusiastic
Audience Hear
Traubel Recital
Soprano Renders Variety
Of Compositions With
Skill and Feeling
By Portia Miller, '43
� On- Tuesday evening, November
26, the second event on the Enter-
tainment Series was an outstand-
ing recital by Helen Traubel, prima
donna soprano of the Metropolitan
Opera Association. It is hardly
possible to praise Miss Traubel
highly enough, for it is a rare
privilege to hear a voice of such
extraordinary power and reson-
ance, combining technical skill with
a deep feeling for dramatic ex-
pression.
Miss Traubel's mastery of the
soprano range was such that her
high notes were equally as warm
and clear as her low notes, and
every tone was full of beauty.
Only an artist of unique ability
could render an intellectual and
emotional interpretation of such di-
verse composers in Miss Traubel's
inspiring fashion. The soprano
sang difficult excerpts from Wag-
ner with the same ease that she
displayed in simple Folk-Songs
such as Siving Low, Sweet Chariot.
The first selections on the pro-
gram were three songs by Beet-
hoven. The pomp of Gotten Macht
und Versehung, effected by the
massive tones, was contrasted by
the more gentle and quiet charac-
ter of Wonne der Wehmuth and
Continued on Page Six
Art News
Mr. J. C. Sloan, associate
professor of History of Art,
has been appointed a member
of the board of the College
Art Association.
Dr. Edgar Wind will lec-
ture at the Haverford Union,
December 5, at 8.30 p. m. on
A New Interpretation of
Raphael'8 School of Athens.
Dr. Wind gave a lecture at
Haverford last year on
Michelangelo's Sistine Ceil-
ing.
M. Meigs Reviews Fall Issue of Lantern:
Declares Charge of Decadence Obsolete
Especially contributed by
Mitt Mary Meigs
Since the fall issue of the Lan-
tern emerged from its chrysalis
last week, one or two literati con-
nected wilh it have asked anxiously
whether I thought it was decadent
If it is any comfort to them, I
might say that the Lantern stop-
ped being decadent at least a year
ago; that one can no longer dis-
miss it with a single satisfying ad-
jective. What we used to mean by
calling it decadent, I hardly know;
most of the stories in 1938 and
1939 had a pessimistic ethical out-
look, some of the poetry was sinis-
ter in Its obscurity. At any rate,
the Lantern was one-sided; it had
a morbid bias towards gloom.
Olivia Kahn in her editorial
seems to feel that the Lantern is
still one-sided. Humorous writing
has been neglected, she says. As I
grope about in the mists of mem-
ory, I can remember reviewing the
last Lantern (Commencement,
1940), so I have a good basis for
odious comparisons. There was a
humorous story in it by Isota Tuck-
er and a story written in a'humor-
ous style by Florence Newman.
Both had elements of tragedy in
them; they were, in short, true to
life. Hence, they disproved to
some extent Miss Kahn's rigid
classification of Lantern material
in "the serious mode." What great
novelist ever wrote entirely in the
serious mode? If the Lantern was
one-sided it was not merely because
it failed .to balance its serious bill
of fare with humorous entrees, but
because its editors thought in cate-
gorical terms of serious vs. hu-
morous.
If Miss Kahn really means, let's
have a few satires, she ought to
come right out and say so, and then
she would be better justified in ty-
ing humor up in a neat separate
package. Instead she implies that
the reader must in every case
either smile or weep, forgetting
that in a single case, he can smile
and weep alternately, or weep
tnrough his laughter or smile
through his tears. But I .chiefly
disagree with Miss Kahn's state-
ment that it is "harder to force the
reader to smile than to weep." The
reader who smiles at the New
Yorker is not going to be tricked
into weeping orer "portions of
True Story or Cotmopolitan;" if